Terriers Drop Wild Affair To The Bruins

Kishaun Gervais had a pair of goals and Carson Henry had a two point night, but it wasn’t enough as the Terriers fell 5-4 to the Estevan Bruins in a wild back and forth contest. For Yorkton, it’s the first time they’ve dropped three straight games since the beginning of October.

Yorkton opened the scoring early in the first period while shorthanded. Karsten Kruska picked up the puck and entered Estevan’s zone on a two-on-one, finding Henry with a pass, who deposited the puck past Boston Bilous for his seventh goal of the season. The Bruins would respond. Off an offensive zone face-off, Matt Millette released a shot from the point, which was booted aside from Kael DePape, only for the puck to end up on the stick of Mikol Sartor, who cashed in to make it 1-1. Estevan took the lead on a four-on-four opportunity. Mark Rumsey, the co-leader in the SJHL for points, received a pass from Sartor and stormed the Yorkton net, muscling the puck past DePape to make it 2-1 Estevan. Terriers tied the game before the end of the first. Erik Boers forced a turnover in Estevan’s end, allowing Henry to find a wide-open Gervais on the doorstep, and Keeseekoose product buried the chance making it 2-2.

Both teams jumped on the offence quickly in the second period. Estevan regained their lead, when a Terrier turnover allowed Caelan Fitzpatrick to step into the left face-off circle, where the 18-year-old from Moose Jaw sniped a shot over the blocker of DePape to make it 3-2. Terriers quickly tied it on an odd man rush. Gervais went streaking down the right side of Estevan’s zone, and with Boers driving to the net, Gervais slid the shot through the legs of Bilous for his second goal of the game, 15th of the season, making it a 3-3 hockey game. However, the Bruins took their third lead of the hockey game less than a minute later. Rumsey drove the puck deep into Yorkton’s zone and his centering feed found Mitch Kohner, who wired a one-timer past DePape for his third goal of the season. Terriers replied once again in a moment that no one will ever forget. Steven Norum fired a puck on Estevan’s goal, which hit the body of Colton Koran and looped over Bilous into the Estevan net to make it 4-4. For the Carstairs, Alberta product, it was his first career SJHL goal in his 39th game of the season.

Both teams entered the third period hungry for the go ahead marker, but the defense tightened up, and after a first 40 minutes which saw tons of offence, only one goal was scored in the final frame. It came on the power-play in favour of the Bruins. Nolan Jones released a shot from the point and Zachary Burns deflected the shot past a surprised DePape to make it 5-4 Estevan. Yorkton pressed for an equalizer, but a last ditch effort from Tyson Janzen screamed wide of the Bruin net, and Estevan escaped with the victory.

DePape made 22 saves in the loss, while Bilous stopped 22 of 26 Yorkton shots in the win. Yorkton will hit the road for back to back games in western Saskatchewan. They will visit the Battlefords North Stars on Tuesday, before facing the Kindersley Klippers on Wednesday. Both games will be broadcast on GX 94 with Benny Walchuk. The pre-game show will start at 7:20pm and play-by-play will begin at 7:30pm.